9 August 2005 - 17:10
  • News ID: 60855
Shamkhani: Iran Will Drop Nuclear Pledges If Attacked

TEHRAN - Iran, a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would drop all its international nuclear pledges if its atomic facilities were attacked, the outgoing Defense Minister said yesterday.

"The day our facilities are attacked, we will put aside all our nuclear commitments," Reuters quoted Ali Shamkhani as saying. He did not specify which commitments Iran would drop. Leading conservatives have called for Iran to follow North Korea's example and pull out of the NPT, a treaty aimed at halting the spread of nuclear arms. Shamkhani said he thought it was unlikely the United States would attack Iran's nuclear facilities, saying Washington must have learned its lesson from the bloody invasion of Iraq. US officials have played down media speculation they may be planning military action against Iran. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, which also accuses Iran of developing atomic weapons, has said his country would prefer a diplomatic rather than military offensive against Iran at this stage. "Whatever is destroyed ... will be rebuilt elsewhere," Shamkhani said. "Our nuclear capability cannot be destroyed by any bomb, because it lies in our universities." The UN atomic watchdog confirmed on Monday that Iran had resumed nuclear fuel work mothballed under a deal with Britain, France and Germany. Iran also formally rejected a package of political and economic incentives offered by the three on behalf of the EU and aimed at persuading it to scrap nuclear fuel work for good. Shamkhani said Iran's Shahab-3 missiles "are now accurate to within one meter of their target". Iran began upgrading the Shahab-3 in May. Tehran said last year it had begun mass production of the medium-range missiles, thought by military experts to have a range of 2,000 km (1,250 miles) -- enough to reach Israel. With speculation mounting about new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominees for cabinet, Shamkhani asked for the defense candidate to be an insider. Iranian media have named the chief of the joint staff of the Revolutionary Guards Ali Akbar Ahmadian as a possible candidate. But Shamkhani said Ahmadinejad had also spoken to Hossein Alaee, head of Iran's Defense Aircraft Industries Organization. Alaee declined to comment. PIN/REUTERS
News ID 60855

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